Unsolicited Approvals - Why?

A number of times since getting back into collecting and joining this community I have received assorted approvals totally unsolicited. I presume the member list is being used for this. I have a few concerns and questions with this practice.

- Is there something in the fine print regarding membership that says I allowed this practice?

-Just how vulnerable is the member list to undesirable use? IE: Hacking for purposes other than stamp collecting.

-It is bothersome to receive something of value, even if minimal, in the mail, unsolicited, with the sender expecting money in return. I will say that the majority of the time the approvals are for the countries that I collect but in most instances I need less than 25%.

-I can only assume that these are mailed at the senders risk and I am in no way responsible for them. I will say that every time I have paid for what I could use and returned what I didn't want with instructions to remove me from their mailing list. So I guess from that standpoint the aggressive and risky marketing works.

- Is there a way through the forum to ensure that future mailings of this nature are eliminated?

- I have been tempted to return what I do not use with a selection of approvals from my duplicates to see what I get in return.

Not trying to start a war - but let the discussion begin.

Which membership do you mean? Here? I am 99.9% sure that it is NOT coming from here.
Don

No idea what you are talking about. I have never received an unsolicited approval at any time. And you do not have to send them back,


Peter

Have you signed up at stampworld.com?

Are you obligated to pay for them? I think not and this would be a way to stop the approvals.

Seems like you need to double check some of your other connections since returning to the hobby. I understand your frustration but if you purchased some stamps from one of these unsolicited mailings, I think that would be a place that sold your name, even if they took you off of their "mailing list".

I would almost bet you are getting these from Mystic Stamp Company. They are notorious for this sort of thing, although they also do a lot of positive good for the hobby. Possibly you replied to one of their ads for a catalog.

It would sure help us in identifying the source of your problem if you'd just be a little more forthcoming as to the name of the dealer and company sending this stuff to you.

When getting unsolicited stuff based on your email, the very first thing to do is Google your email address and see if it returns any hits. Simply type your email address into Google and make sure you put quotes around it so that it returns only your exact email address. You want to see nothing returned. If it returns hits, then your email address is 'out there' and available to commercial entities.
Don

Definitely nothing to do with here.

Like Peter said: No idea what you are talking about. I have never received an unsolicited approval at any time. And you do not have to send them back,

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

There is no record of your full name nor is there any kind of address required or available for someone to use here at the forum. How can you be sent approvals without that? Except for vandals, hackers wouldn't be interested in a place that doesn't hold credit card information.

You complain about unsolicited approvals and yet you BUY from mailings sent that way? That insures you will be kept on someone's mailing list to be sold on to others. It looks to be of your own doing.

Agreed. If you complain about unsolicited approvals, then do not buy from them. I'd bet by now the OP is on several sucker lists.

Again, WHO is the dealer or company we're talking about?

No. Never.

Thanks all for your quick responses and recommendations. I intentionally did not name anyone due to the unconfirmed source of the information. I am pleased of the certainty in your responses that it is not from here. The most recent mailing came from Andre St.Louis of St-Hyacinthe, QC. I en-devour to always be honest and ethical but will not be returning or paying for anything sent this time. I am a member of only one other stamp related forum and APS and due to the content of the mailings they are not from the other forum. I certainly hope APS is not the offender. I think STAMPS1962 may have nailed it. I have done a number of transactions with Mystic and will be registering my dissatisfaction with their practice.

When you join the APA, your name and address are published. When I joined, I got several adds and one set of approvals. I rather liked that the guy trusted me enough to send me some stamps. We started doing business and over the years I must have bought at least $1,000 worth of stamps from him.

Don